A warehouse audit checklist: records, locations, documents, access

A warehouse audit asks one question: does this storeroom produce records that can be trusted? A stock count answers it only for one day. An audit looks at the system around the stock: how goods come in, where they stand, which documents follow them and who is allowed to change the numbers. The checklist below covers the four areas that explain most stock differences. Use it as a conversation on the floor, in the order given, and not as a form filled in at a desk.

1. Receiving and records

• Are goods checked against the delivery note and the order at the moment they arrive, and who does the check?
• Is the quantity counted, or copied from the document?
• How long passes between physical arrival and posting in the book? The same day, or a week?
• Where do goods wait for inspection, and are they marked?
• Do returns, damaged goods and rejected items have a recorded route?
• If the delivered quantity differs from the order, who is told, and is that contact recorded?

2. Locations and storage

• Does every item have a defined location, and is the location written on the shelf?
• Are there areas outside the system, such as corners, the yard, a mezzanine or a "temporary" pile?
• Are damaged, quarantined and obsolete goods kept apart and labelled?
• Does the same item stand in several places, and does the book know it?
• Are shelf locations and book locations compared regularly, and when was it last done?
• Can the storekeeper find ten randomly chosen items within a few minutes each?

3. Documents

• Are receipts and issues numbered in sequence, and can every gap in the numbers be explained?
• Are documents posted on the day of the movement, or collected and entered in a batch?
• Is there a pile of unposted or unsigned documents, and how old is the oldest?
• Are corrections made with a new document, or by overwriting the old record?
• Does the person who signs for a delivery actually see the goods?
• Are transfers between warehouses or locations documented in the same way as receipts and issues?

4. Access and responsibility

• Who can change quantities in the system, and who can change item master data?
• Do several people share one login?
• Who holds the keys, and who can enter outside working hours?
• Does the person who receives goods also approve write-offs?
• Does each zone have a named person responsible for it?
• When someone leaves or changes department, when are their access rights withdrawn?

Floor tests, and how to read the answers

Answers on a checklist are statements; tests are evidence.

1. Floor to book: pick 10 items on the shelves at random, find each in the book and compare the quantities.
2. Book to floor: pick 10 lines from the book, including some with large values, and find the goods.
3. Document trace: follow five recent receipts through to the shelf and five issues back to the delivery note.

For illustration, if 2 of the 10 items in the first test have a different quantity and 1 item in the second test cannot be found, the problem is probably not random. Start by looking at which zones those items come from.

Do not stop at yes or no: ask who does it, when and how, all the way through. Rate each area as in place, partly in place or absent, and do not turn the result into a score. For every weak point write one recommendation with a named owner. Fix first the problems that actually create differences, such as unchecked receiving and delays in posting, before those that merely look untidy.

Summary

When records, locations, documents and access rights are looked at together, it becomes clear where the differences begin. Smart Inventory's warehouse audit reviews receiving and issuing records, location control, document flow and access rights to find why differences arise, and proposes improvements.